[Closed] Bontrager 24/12 roll call...

It's PIVOT, for crying out loud!! 😆

I think it's gonna struggle to lose the Bontrager name, though!!

I'm going. Our usual [s]team[/s] rabble of unfit layabouts will be there.
It'll be even worse this year because 3 of us have now got kids and have done barely any riding in the last year (I did no riding at all for 5 months and have only been doing around 30 miles/week since May).
I thought I better take the Stumpjumper for a ride at the weekend to make sure all the boingy bits went boing and the brakes (Avid) haven't had a hissy fit (they have 🙄 ) and I had to remove last years race number before dragging it's sorry carcass out of the garage!

We should have trackside camping - grey tunnel tent & probably a Salsa gazebo.
I'll wave and shout encouragement if I recognise you. What bike will you be on? I'll be on a carbon Stumpjumper FSR going very slowly......

I'm struggling to call it anything but Bonty. Good to see some fresh sponsorship though as it is a great event.

Entered the 12hr solo for another year. The drive from Suffolk is a test of endurance on it's own!

I'm struggling to call it anything but Bonty

same here! And now I won't have a reason to ride it on my old Bonty either 🙁 Will be back on the retro 26er Scalpel marathon-machine instead...

12hr Solo'ing again this year, then spending the next 12 hrs as team support for a female 4-up and on 'encouragement' duties for a friend in the 24hr Solo.

can't wait!

24hr solo and spare bike with some more grippe tyres just in case..

Keeping finger toes crossed that we not need it.

Can't wait I must say.

I didn't even know it wasn't the Bonty any more!

I'm there, 12 hour pair, should be good!

Will be back on the retro 26er Scalpel marathon-machine instead...

glad thats getting some use.

glad thats getting some use.

More than you might expect, it is perfect for this kind of event, and other long non-tech XC rides, just enough travel to keep comfy and grippy, and in 1x10 guise easy to build ~23lbs cheaply with obsolete 26er bits 😉

I'm sure a 29er one would be X% faster but for going fast for short periods I have other options.

I really really hope it's dry again this year....

/waves

Last did it in 2010 in a messing about team of 4 (5?) and we had to steal some underage lad who was faster than us all due to others dropping out.

Signed up for the Torchbearer, first solo, first 12 hour (Longest ride is 11 hours 3 years ago) with 2 others doing 24hr solo and we don’t have much in the way of pitcrew (one lad is an old hand at this type of thing though, got 2nd at the isle of man longest day race the other week). I’m not fast but have been averaging 140km per week so aiming to finish and anything over 8 laps or so would be nice.

Wearing a green MAD top on a black & white centurion LRS (looks like a hardtail), bringing a spare set of wheels shod in ice spikes (I’m not forking out on dedicated mud tyres for 1 event) which I hope not to have to use.

Any tips for a solo novice apart from don’t stop?

Any tips for a solo novice apart from don’t stop

eat
drink
pace yourself
eat some more
drink some more
ignore the hallucinations @4am
eat some more
drink some more
it's ok to cry a bit
it's not OK to pray for a mechanical/puncture just to get a break
eat some more
drink some more

I'm sure a 29er one would be X% faster

ha ha I'm riding my Anthem 29er, but taking my 26" HT with Bonty Muds as a spare, mainly becuae it has 2x10 so if does get muddy 20hrs in I have a slightly easier time of things

I'm going to be there for the first time, as a pair.

My mate is quick and fit, i'll be pushing the hills on an On One Parkwood.

Give us a wave!

as a pair.

Welcome to the hardest form of XC racing I've ever done 🙂

amedias - Member
Any tips for a solo novice apart from don’t stop
eat
drink
pace yourself
eat some more
drink some more
ignore the hallucinations @4am
eat some more
drink some more
it's ok to cry a bit
it's not OK to pray for a mechanical/puncture just to get a break
eat some more
drink some more

Last year I put a Gingsters pasty on my solo table as an incentive for doing the 24 - it was to be my final lap meal du' jour. However, after 5 hours I was sick of jelly babies and fig rolls and couldn't resist scoffing the pasty.

Did the 'oh damn, I didn't enter early enough' Torchbearer last year. Daytime 12 hour solo this year and looking forward to not developing a vacant thousand yard stare as the rain starts at 3am and I start seeing pixies in my peripheral vision.

Pork Pie with Egg to be ordered to put on the table.

And some fig rolls.

And some [b]fig [/b]rolls.

I'm not sure I'd be that brave, you do know they have a laxative effect? My digestion always suffer on long events anyway, not sure I'd want that on top!

Never have a problem - I drink coffee like it's going out of fashion and I do long spins (~6 hours) munching on gels and the like and always been fine.

Every other day or so I need the toilet and that's it.

I’m not fast but have been averaging 140km per week so aiming to finish and anything over 8 laps or so would be nice.

Any tips for a solo novice apart from don’t stop?

I'll be there again with a 4 man team of fat, middle aged Welsh riders on unsuitable bikes. Nothing new then. 😆

Gutted to be missing it this year due to an almighty **** up with my dates which meant that I couldn't get time off work for it 🙁
Going to have to do the Torq in Your Sleep instead but definitely back next year for 24/12.

Good luck to everyone going, and I hope the weather's better than last year for you all.

You know you need to be doing that in 12hours, don't you?

Ah bugger, have I left it too late to speed up a bit? 😉

When your main light runs out at 4.45am, don't sit down and think "I'll just wait until the sun comes up - it can only be 30 minutes now." (My wife woke me at 7.30, asking why I wasn't riding.... )

Sunrise at half 6 isn't it? Hiring something from Exposure which they have said will last me for the event, plus I have several backups.

Me riding for Beerbabe-NWAlpsCC

Last year I put a Gingsters pasty on my solo table as an incentive for doing the 24 - it was to be my final lap meal du' jour. However, after 5 hours I was sick of jelly babies and fig rolls and couldn't resist scoffing the pasty.

Wow - never knew people went that mad at 24hr events....

I'm doing 12hr pairs again. Not [s]brave[/s] stupid enough to try solo

Some pics from a few years ago popped up in my memories today - the year I sadly didn't race as I had a broken leg...

[img] ?oh=b3f0813ca8325457342240eaab6194da&oe=57FF5E78[/img]

**** that.

Wow. Looks like a mayhem picture!

Kryton57 - Member
as a pair.
Welcome to the hardest form of XC racing I've ever done

I've been warned!

Not at all fit but not racing. Well I'm not, my teammate might be.

Any news on the course layout for this year yet?

Through a field up a hill and around some woods?

Sunrise at half 6 isn't it?

First light is about 5am down here at the moment. Probably 5.30am by end of July.

Kryton57 - Member

Through a field up a hill and around some woods?

😆

Yeh, I'm in, never been so unfit due to hip and thigh pain that I think may be here for life now. 🙁

I'll do what I can and make sure I give a shout to everyone else.

#prayforsun

Dartmoor Zoo has lost a lynx - it's been sighted near Sparkwell. (Dartmoor Zoo is just up the road, a mile or two from Newnham.) So if you see a pair of hungry looking eyes watching you in the dark.....

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-36715287

So if you see a pair of hungry looking eyes watching you in the dark

toss them a piece of flapjack and tell them to MTFU and get riding?

seen more than my fair share of bush-napping riders at 24/12 and Mayhem over the years...

This year will be my third year but first 12hr solo. I'm planing on 2 laps on and 20 mins off to stretch/eat/fill up the camel bak, then repeat till i pass out.

Being chased down Cottage Return by a lynx should be fun 🙂

Lynx don't chase. They hide then leap out and get you.

So watch out in the slow speed bits like the top of the climb by the ice-cream van.
[img] ?v=1467328354[/img]

I was thinking it might be fun to do until I saw that photo up there (the mud one, not the savage cat.)

as a pair.
Welcome to the hardest form of XC racing I've ever done

Fancy a paired effort next year? 😉

until I saw that photo up there

In fairness that was 'the year' when it was absolutely fricking awful, the campsite was nearly evacuated in the night due to a rising river level, a lot of tents ended up either floating or collapsed, and many gazebos lodged in trees.

<hoping not to Jinx it>

It's very unlikely to be like that again, most years I get sunburnt!

It was a bit wet last year. I raced the 12hr pairs in fairly muddy conditions. Mrs Yak raced the Torchbearer. That looked horrible once the rain kicked off in the early hours, but she reckoned the track rode better once fully wet.

So dry, muddy or wet - nothing to worry about. (except the cat)

Who wants a weather update... Currently scorchio. Ground rock hard with the odd small puddle. Staying hot until Wed. Few heavy showers Wed then cloudy with long sunny breaks.. perfect.

See you there!

Which forecast are you looking at? The one I have is heavy showers/rain from 12:00am Sunday to the finish - much like last year.

If it stays that way I'm saving the fuel.

Seems like the course is run backwards this year.

12hr Solo ticket going spare here if anyone wants one - or knows someone daft enough to want it....?

Kryton57 - Member
Which forecast are you looking at? The one I have is heavy showers/rain from 12:00am Sunday to the finish - much like last year.

If it stays that way I'm saving the fuel.

I'm coming from ireland and doing the torchbearer ):

I'm sticking a 40t cassette on with some ice spikers (great in mud) and 32 rounds of the rosary.

Which forecast are you looking at? The one I have is heavy showers/rain from 12:00am Sunday to the finish - much like last year.

If it stays that way I'm saving the fuel.

Man up buttercup 😉

After doing it for many, many years, I've found it best not to look at weather forecasts until Friday at the earliest. I only get depressed or full of false hope.
It will be fun regardless.